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Hudson Kramer

Prof. Soriano

Art History R1B

May 15th 2020

The Esoteric Art of The Tarot

Prior to entering this class, I had heard the word/concept of “esotericism”, but never

understood what it meant or what it actually was. Now, with a greater grasp on what this mystic

concept of “esotericism” is, I find many aspects extremely fascinating. With so many themes and

ideas one could choose to write about, all I could think about were Tarot cards. This may be

because I have brought up the esoteric art that is Tarot in class before, however, I have only

discussed it in terms of comparing other esoteric arts with it. Today, I have decided that since I

have always been fascinated with Tarot and have done some light research on it, to dive deeper

into their actual origins and their timeline leading up till present-day 2020. Although Tarot cards

are thought of as something that only have purpose in divination or simply as a card game, when

looking back at the first Tarot cards ever made, each card is its own art piece that reflects the

times in which they were created. This can be seen from iconography and symbolism relating to

the time and what each of these times reflected onto their set of Tarot cards. In the rest of this

essay, I will be going through different time periods of esoteric Tarot cards and comparing and

contrasting the cards from one another, showing how each individual card is a piece of art, but to

show as time has gone by them have become more corporate and less treated and thought of as

art.
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Figure 1: “Death” from The Pierpont Morgan Bergamo Deck

When looking at the creation of Tarot as we know it, according to Mitch Horowitz1 It

goes back to the 15th century in northern Italy. The earliest deck, that is known about

modern-day, was created in the 1400s and was originally treated as a game. A card game that

now many may refer to as Bridge, Tarot is like the ancestor of modern-day Bridge. This card

game was made up of 78 cards that have Trump images such as the empress, the fool, and death,

which many of us associate in 2020 with Tarot. These pieces of imagery such as the fool or even

just the magician are now associated with the esoteric art of Tarot. However, you may hear

games and discredit Tarot and this concept of it starting as a game, but during the Renaissance

when this deck of cards was created, games were serious business. The Tarot imagery that we

think of is far different from the Tarot cards that appeared during this time.

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Horowitz, Mitch. Occult America: the Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation
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Figure 2: “Horsewoman of Coins” from The Cary-Yale Deck

The first official deck known to man is highly debated, as not a full deck from this time

has been salvaged, however, experts refer to the incomplete sets of original tarot cards as “The

Visconti-Sforza.2” The three sets include the Brera-Brambilla, the Pierpont Morgan Bergamo,

and the Cary-Yale. Each of these decks were commissioned by the names of the families/people

in which they were named after and were all created in the 1400s. These sets were all distinctly

different and are so much more detailed than what we know, such as the “Horsewoman of Coins”

card in specifically the Cary-Yale deck (figure 2). This card depicts a white blonde woman

perched upon a white horse. The woman wears a deep rich green that matches the horse's gear, as

well as a golden cape that is embellished with multiple symbols such as a falcon. She holds a

golden coin. The background is filled with almost a rug like imagery that is also gold and filled

with textures and patterns. This piece is absolutely gorgeous and shows how these older cards

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Autorbis. “Trionfi.” Oldest Tarot Cards. Origin of Tarot. Research of the history of Tarot.
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seem to have so much more work and thought put into them, as well as being one of a kind. The

textures and colors, the stylistic choices, and the attire reflect the renaissance but also just give

more depth to this piece of art because of its reflection of the time. Many of the Cary-Yale cards

as well as Brambilla cards have elements that give me Gustav Klimt “The Kiss'' and “The Lady

in Gold” vibes which are iconic pieces. Many of these older decks were similar in many ways

because of the opulence they give off. It is very common to see these embellished textured

backgrounds along with more muted colors, but each card still has its own entity and feeling in

which it emits. These cards are just as much of a form of art as the pieces I just stated are, but as

time as gone by, Tarot has lost some of the uniqueness that can be found in these original decks.

Additionally, when looking at these cards modern-day, we can interpret them so

differently from what the original artists intended them to be. This is where Panofsky’s idea of

iconology is so prevalent in esoteric art. Most of the types of art we think of as esoteric art were

created hundreds of years ago, and even if the original creators were to make an instruction key

about what everything meant, it was such a different time and humans have evolved so much

since. “The discovery and interpretation of these ‘symbolical’ values (which are often unknown

to the artist himself and may even emphatically differ from what he consciously intended to

express) is the object of what we may call ‘iconology’ as opposed to ‘iconography’"3 is what

Panofsky states as his definition of iconology, and it's especially true when thinking about the

Tarot symbolism revolving around the renaissance and religion. We may be interpreting some of

the features in ways that the original artists had no idea about. The mysticism regarding Tarot

and its iconology will continue to intrigue audiences forever.

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Panofsky, Erwin. 1955. Meaning in the visual arts: papers in and on art history.
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As time progressed, Tarot eventually traveled to France, where it adapted more

renaissance and hermetic philosophies. The imagery started evolving into images and symbolism

to communicate people’s inner and spiritual developments and their reality. This is when Tarot

became solidified in society and occultists and authors linked the images to ancient symbolism

that depicted different times. As the mid 19th century came along, decks became associated with

multiple different mystical schools of thought such as Kabbalah and languages such as Hebrew.

Mitch Horowitz details how it is “Impossible to understand tarot without grasping that there is a

mystical allegory in the cards. The images that appear in the tarot deck are an archetype of our

earliest recorded history of sorcerers and hermits and magicians and devils. All images have

heroic and mysterious qualities.”4 Specifically, the “Major Arcana” which are the 22 allegorical

images that depict the human journey.

Figure 3/4: “The Fool” from The Visconti-Sforza & The Rider-Waite-Smith Deck

One of the biggest turning points for Tarot came at the start of the 20th century (1909)

when British occultist Arthur Edward Waite decided to create a new deck of Tarot. Waite

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Horowitz, Mitch. Occult America: the Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation.
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collaborated with the artist Pamela Colman Smith to make the most well-known form of tarot to

our modern-day: “The Rider-Waite-Smith Deck.” When Arthur was creating the deck one of his

biggest wishes for the deck was for it to “follow very carefully the astrological significance of

each suit as it is influenced by different zodiac signs.” Additionally, they gained their visual

inspirations from a French tarot deck named The Tarot of Marseilles which dated back to the

18th century, as well as inspiration from Italian influences as well. A fun fact is that Waite

actually commissioned Smith to also make some of the figures look like Waite’s friends such as

“The World” card appearing similar to his friend Florence Farr, and it only took Smith around six

months to complete. The Rider-Waite-Smith opened up a whole new realm of Tarot Decks, in

turn creating a “democratic occult renaissance”5.

Almost everyone has seen at least one of the cards from the Waite deck, as seen in figure

4. The Waite deck is known for its bright opaque colors that are used throughout each card, along

with a dark outline and not necessarily much detail. His cards had simpler faces and textures

were made by linework and not actual texture. The cards also don't really reflect the era in which

they were made, and reference well-known Christian ideologies such as Adam & Eve, but also

more renaissance attire to reference the origins of Tarot. The example in figure 4 is of The Fool,

a very well-known card that was actually the first Major Arcana created. When looking at older

iterations of The Fool seen in figure 3, one can notice that they are very different. The Fool from

The Visconti-Sforza Deck is much more the art I have detailed prior, using actual textures such

as the background. The colors are much more muted and easier on the eye and depict much more

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Horowitz, Mitch. Occult America: the Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation
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of a “Peasant” from the 14th century in which it was created. Seeing these two cards side by side

show the extreme progression that Tarot has made, however, I am unsure if that is for the better.

This is when I feel Tarot began being treated as a corporate business, and less as

individual art pieces. Almost anywhere you go, you will most like find The Rider-Waite deck,

but in the past, as we discussed prior, all of the cards were unique and had elements from the

time they were created in. I do think this is a product of the fact that Arthur Waite didn't

necessarily believe some of the more Astrological and Kabbalah related elements that Tarot has

adapted but Waite recognized the mystical allegories in the cards and the powerful occult images.

However, that's what also made the cards representative of their time of creation and have the

esotericism so strongly associated with them. The cards are still art and when first created were

even more so, but now with the universality of the cards, they lose the one-of-a-kind feeling that

true art emits. Now, with this universal mold of Tarot in the public's eye, the art element was

lost… until as of more recently. Artists of our generation have seen the constant Rider-Waite

cards and now more than ever are creating their own themed decks of Tarot. These artists are

reviving the idea put forth about these cards reflecting the time era created, but it seems to be

less about the iconography of the pieces, but more the artistic style. Whether that be a deck

themed around Greek Gods, or one of my personal favorites being “The OK Tarot Deck” where

the deck consists of a bunch of mediocrity drawn cards that are all pink. Tarots art has evolved in

a different way, but still having each of these cards being a piece of art. Additionally,

modern-day Tarot is used much more for divination now and less as a game as it was in the

1400/1500s, which brings up Prown’s idea of Material Culture. Prown defines Material Culture

as: “the study through artifacts of the beliefs-values, ideas, attitudes, and assumptions of a
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particular community or society at a given time.”6 The study of Material Culture is exactly how I

am evaluating Tarot and its timeline; Tarot being the artifact and how it fits into these different

eras and the societies in place.

Figure ⅚: Examples of Modern-Day Tarot Decks, Ex: “The OK Tarot Deck”

The last thing I would like to discuss is an aspect of Tarot in which I personally know the

least about, which is divination. Divination is often defined as “the practice of attempting to

foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge by occult or supernatural means” according

to Dictionary.com. I like to think of divination as a way to manifest potential outcomes for

important decisions in one's life, whether that be subconscious or not. Although my research

regarding Tarot revolves around the artistic elements of Tarot cards as well as the iconography

and its progression through the years, one has to be aware of one of its most important uses.

Many of these cards wouldn’t be the way they are for not having purpose in divination, and with

such a complex use, the cards had to reflect that complexity with its imagery. Like I mentioned

prior, it began as more of a serious game of bridge, however, in Italy in the 1500s it also was

originally used in a game where players dealt random cards to one another and used the imagery

on the card to write poems about one another, which is closer to the concept of divination. In

addition, Arthur Waite who created The Rider-Smith-Waite Deck also mentioned that his deck

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Prown, Jules David. "Mind in Matter: An Introduction to Material Culture Theory and Method
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was created with the use of divination in mind, and even came with a handbook on how to do so.

However, many historians believe that Tarot naturally evolved into being able to be used for

divination, and it started with Egypt and a man named Etteilla in 17917. Etteilla was one of the

first people to be recognized to use Tarot for divination. He claimed that traditional tarot cards

had wisdom passed down from ancient Egypt, as many European intellectuals believed that

many of the symbols in Tarot mirrored hieroglyphics from ancient Egypt, “which held major

insights into human existence”8 as well as gave the cards greater credibility. Etteilla believed that

this connection with Egypt related to the legendary Book of Thoth, as this book was engraved by

a priest into gold plates, which in turn, created the imagery for his own deck which he created in

1789, as well as possibly could have given inspiration to The Visconti-Sforza. Etteilla’s Tarot

deck explicitly was created and used as a divination tool and is now known as the Egyptian

Tarot. I say all this because many experts say that Etteilla was one of the first people who made

divination so esoteric, and a part of Tarot as we know it.

As you can see, Tarot is the epitome of esotericism. It has so many mythical origins and

has continued to adapt more as it has changed. Tarot cards are essentially frozen moments of

time from the immediate present of that time period when they were made. They're the ultimate

democratic tool of the occult. I am so glad I got the chance to dive deeper into the mystic art of

Tarot and understand where they came from and how Tarot got to be how it is today, from The

Cary Yale Deck to modern-day unique interpretations. The future of Tarot is unknown, but I

hope to see the art of Tarot continue to thrive for all purposes, but most importantly be

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“Tarot Mythology: The Surprising Origins of the World's Most Misunderstood Cards.” Mental Floss, 4
Dec. 2015,
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“Tarot Mythology: The Surprising Origins of the World's Most Misunderstood Cards.” Mental Floss, 4
Dec. 2015,
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recognized as art universally, and maybe even be incorporated into more art history courses such

as Prof. Soriano’s class!

Bibliography

1. Uspenskiĭ P. D., and A. L. Pogossky. The Symbolism of the Tarot: Philosophy of

Occultism in Pictures and Numbers: Pen-Pictures of the Twenty Two Tarot Cards.

Kessinger Pub., 2000.

2. Dummett, Michael. "Six XV-Century Tarot Cards: Who Painted Them?" Artibus Et

Historiae 28, no. 56 (2007): 15-26. Accessed March 11, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/20067158.

3. Sosteric, Mike. "A Sociology of Tarot." The Canadian Journal of Sociology / Cahiers

Canadiens De Sociologie 39, no. 3 (2014): 357-92. Accessed March 11, 2020.

www.jstor.org/stable/canajsocicahican.39.3.357

4. Panofsky, Erwin. 1955. Meaning in the visual arts: papers in and on art history. Garden City,

N.Y.: Doubleday. http://books.google.com/books?id=56BPAAAAMAAJ.

5. Prown, Jules David. "Mind in Matter: An Introduction to Material Culture Theory and

Method." Winterthur Portfolio 17, no. 1 (1982): 1-19. Accessed March 4, 2020.

www.jstor.org/stable/1180761.

6. Koerner, Brendan I. “Where Do Tarot Cards Come from?” Slate Magazine. Slate, October 10,

2002. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2002/10/where-do-tarot-cards-come-from.html.

7. Stenudd, Stefan. “The Tarot Cards.” All the 78 Tarot Cards and What They Mean. Accessed

April 27, 2020. https://www.tarotcardmeanings.net/tarotcards.htm.

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8. Oatman-Stanford, Hunter. “Tarot Mythology: The Surprising Origins of the World's Most

Misunderstood Cards.” Collectors Weekly. Accessed April 27, 2020.

https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/the-surprising-origins-of-tarot-most-misunderstood-ca

rds/.

9. Autorbis. “Trionfi.” Oldest Tarot Cards. Origin of Tarot. Research of the history of Tarot.

Accessed April 27, 2020. http://trionfi.com/0/b/.

10. Horowitz, Mitch. Occult America: the Secret History of How Mysticism Shaped Our Nation.

New York: Bantam Books, 2009.

11. Emily E. Auger. Tarot and Other Meditation Decks: History, Theory, Aesthetics, Typology,

McFarland, 2003

12. Janina Renée. Tarot for a New Generation, Llewellyn Worldwide, 2001

13. “Tarot Mythology: The Surprising Origins of the World's Most Misunderstood Cards.”

Mental Floss, 4 Dec. 2015,

www.mentalfloss.com/article/71927/tarot-mythology-surprising-origins-worlds-most-misunderst

ood-cards.